Coin Slot Magazine - #056 - 1979 - October [International Arcade Museum]
victed
and
sentenced
to
two years in
McNeil
Island Penitentiary in Washington, and was fined
$4500.
Cornero was disgusted.
up their share of the ship in a game of chance.
The "King of Rumrunners" was finally in jail.
But during his rumrunning career he had made
over a million dollars.
At the height of his oper
ation, Cornero had five "liquor mobs" working
under him, with over 200 men under his super
vision.
"I
lost the TANGO, but I won my peace of
mind," Tony philosophized.
There are three ver
sions
gambled
as
TANGO:
to
how
Cornero
away
his
on a single roll of the dice, on a single
cut of the cards, or after a twenty-hour card game.
Regardless of how he lost, Tony was now free
After being released from prison in 1931, Tony
publically declared that he was devoting himself
to "an honest, upright life as the general manager
of the International Tropical Steamship Company"
and other business ventures.
shortly after serving his time, but the marriage
was brief, as Tony divorced her in 1932 because
she called him an "ex-convict."
In the early 1930s,Tony's interest was attracted
become an establishment. With his brothers Frank
and Louie, Tony invested some of his liquor money
in a Las Vegas resort called the Meadows.
The
was abandoned.
Tony moved back to his home in Beverly Hills,
and decided to invest in a venture to place gamb
ling ships off the coast, out past the three-mile
limit, and thus beyond the jurisdiction of local
and state laws.
THES. S. REX
Cornero bought the dismantled hulk of the
The
KENILWORTH, a
steel-hulled
four-masted
British ship was built in 1887 and partook in the
Pacific grain trade.
In 1903 it was rechristened
the STAR OF SCOTLAND and was part of the
From 1930 to 1937
she operated as a luxury fishing barge out of Santa
Monica to Catalina waters.
The ship was outfitted to become the largest,
swankiest and most luxurious ship of the gambling
fleet.
Tony renamed her the S. S. REX, probably
after his earlier appellation of "King of the Rum
runners."
The main deck of the REX had a 400 foot
saloon with eleven roulette wheels, six dice lay
outs, blackjack and poker tables, and many other
forms of gambling such as faro, chuck-a-Suck, and
Cornero, along with three partners, outfitted
and opened the first of the offshore gambling ships,
The S. S. TANGO, in the early 1930s.
It was
anchored just over three miles off the coast of
Long Beach.
where he could be sole boss.
Alaska salmon-cannery fleet.
to Las Vegas, where gambling was beginning to
not profitable, and
to begin preparations for a fourth gambling ship,
KENILWORTH to convert into his gambling ship.
Cornero married 19-year old Dorothy Thaxton
resort was
they balked on the deal.
Shortly thereafter, all four partners agreed to put
chemin de fer.
The lower deck housed elegant
dining rooms, bars, a band and miniscule dance
floor,
150 slot machines arranged in long rows,
and a bingo parlor seating 400.
Large red neon
lights made the ship visible from the shore.
Shortly afterward, two additional
ships (operated by other parties) joined the fleet;
The slot machines were obtained through Bob
the SHOWBOAT off Long Beach (also known as
Gans, the slot machine king of Los Angeles, with
the MOUNT BAKER) and the TEXAS off Santa
the REX getting 75% of the profits.
Monica.
Cornero was
able to get such a good deal because slot machines
had just been banned in Los Angeles.
com
.
m
:
u
Business aboard the TANGO was m
good, e
but
ro very
The REX, being without motive power, was
us (Bill
f three
m
d
Tony was frustrated with e his
partners
-
e
d
towed to its anchorage off Santa Monica for its
d
a
a
lo Jim LLoyd)
Blazer, Cal Quster n
and
.arc who didn't see grand opening on May 5, 1938. The event was
ow him on ww
eye to eye D
with
how the ship should be
well advertised, mainly by large newspaper ads,
://w
run. By 1937 t Tony
h tp was fed up with his partners radio, and skywriting.
and made them an offer to buy them out or sell
them his share of the TANGO. His partners agreed
for Tony to buy them out, but at the last minute
© The International Arcade Museum
Cornero advertised that his S. S.
REX "Sur
passes all the thrills of Riviera, Biarritz, Monte
http://www.arcade-museum.com/